1 / 11

Civil Peace

Civil Peace. The Author (1). Chinua Achebe (1930-) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, and one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century.

shasta
Download Presentation

Civil Peace

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Civil Peace

  2. The Author (1) Chinua Achebe (1930-) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, and one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century. He was a diplomat in the short-lived Biafran government, and his work is primarily interested in African politics, the depiction of Africa and Africans in the West.

  3. The Author (2) Achebe’s greatest work is Things Fall Apart, which considers the effects of colonisation on the Igbo society. It has been translated into over 50 languages. Achebe is also known for his critique of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, famously describing Conrad as “a bloody racist”.

  4. Historical Perspective The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran war lasted from 1967 to 1970. One of the major ethnic groups in the country, the Igbo people, seceded and formed the Republic of Biafra. They were basically besieged and starved into submission by the Nigerian forces, leading to claims of genocide. Johnathan Iwegbu is clearly one of the Igbo people, and he may have been caught in the besieged areas, so he has every reason to be pleased that so many of his family have survived.

  5. Characterisation Jonathan Iwegbu: Positive Resourceful Being positive may be the only way to survive(?) His catchphrase is “Nothing puzzles God.” Meaning that God watches over him no matter what happens. Indirect descriptions. He makes his own luck – if life gives him lemons, he makes lemonade.

  6. Narration Third person narrator.

  7. Setting Historical angle... Nigeria, 1970. The Igbo (Biafran) part of the country. Right after the war, and everyone in this part of the country is destitute and has suffered great losses.

  8. Plot (1) Civil war has just ended. “Happy Survial!” Jonathan escapes the war with his life, and the lives of four of five family members intact. As an added bonus, his bicycle and his house have “survived”. Jonathan goes about the business of making a living. He ends up with 20 pounds of Nigerian money. His house is visited by thieves who get his 20 pounds. But Jonathan remains calm and looks at the bright side.

  9. Theme “Nothing puzzles God.” Subject: Loss, survival, optimism, resourcefulness... Theme suggestions: “Always look on the bright side of life.” “If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.” “God helps those who help themselves.”

  10. Irony The irony of the story lies first and foremost in the way Jonathan responds to the terrible things that happen to him. His response is so completely different from what we would expect, that it becomes ironic (attitudinal irony). He loses a child in the war, but focuses completely on the fact that the other members of his family survived. He is robbed by a gang of thieves but doesn’t really mind, he’s just happy he only lost some money, even if it was a lot of money.

More Related